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Hey there...i can speak to the high school level. Ive seen it done really well and really half assed.

There’s really several layers to gameplanning. To be honest, the off-season film review of your lower levels and varsity is critical and would provide you your baseline on information related to “what you’ve got”. I would imagine at the college level practice film provides a similar level of self-scouting.

Coordinators all have their own personalities in terms of scheme, but at the end of the day, lots of people use the same concepts, repurposed to fit their respective personnel (if you’re adaptable) and philosophy. From a scheme perspective, you develop your base offense off what you can do well, and then its about developing the counters and complements. In the pass game, we look at the film weve ammassed on our current year opponents in the spring and generally figure out what the defensive schemes each team is likely to deploy against us. Then you can lump your available concepts into such buckets as “man-beaters”, “cov-2 beaters”, “cov-3” beaters, etc etc. same with the run game. If you can predict the #s in the box and look for those stunt/slant tendencies, you could figure out how your offense will work best. if efficient, you should have a good idea of each opponent’s lineups and scheme pre-season. Then when you get to game week, you are simplify confirming or adjusting your plan based on the new evidence available.

Things you evaluate as part of a game plan:

- base coverage(s)

- box #’s in various personnel packages, formations and situations

- the opponents predicted adjustments to your formations based on previous opponents as well as your previous tape.

- pressure tendencies (down, direction, specific player, etc)

- situational personnel adjustments

- best players

- weakest links)

- ability to contain the edge / discipline

- your own self-scouting / ability to break tendency.

... and so much more... this is a black hole

My timeline as an offensive coordinator in a game week... (not including indi /drills... this is just general focus... and just for the offensive side of the ball).

Friday Night: GAME

Saturday Morning: Ice, Game Review, Light Lift, and Field Walkthrough of anything new, corrections or things to be dusted off based on high level projections of the next opponent. I love the saturday morning practices. Purges the game from friday and gets you focused on whats next.

Saturday/Sunday: coaches review next opponent film, meet Sunday evening as offensive/defensive units with the HC (we video conference now to make it less time intensive) and Coordinators will propose an initial pass at the gameplan as well as a schedule for installing the plan.

Tuesday: inside run game and RPO’s, screens and play action passes. Will get in some 3rd and short& goalline situations (including backed up on our own goalline)

Wednesday: (generally tuesday night we make any updates to our plan and develop our script) run through our 10 play script ( plays weve identified that we think will put the opponent in a bind) and any other plays “off the band” that we want in our back pocket against a particular defense. Nail down any different personnel packages and work on changing in and out of those packages. We will work on starting drives from our own 20 out to midfield, sudden change in opponent territory, etc

Thursday: walk through of first 10 and any tricks or new additions added for the week. In and out of personnel packages.

Anyway, this could actually be much more in depth, but hopefully this gives you one perspective. Keys are making sure your scout team is really organized and giving the right looks in the right situations (which takes lots of prep and actual time to thoroughly break down the opponents D).

Fyi: We are a spread, no huddle team that likes to vary tempo. Generally 10 or 20 personnel ( not a fan of forcing tight ends that dont exist at the high school level - that said, its truly a wonderful thing to have a difference maker at TE.)

Great work breaking down power and counter. As you briefly mentioned, a lot of similarities for backs with zone running. Schematically, makes sense to pair with IZ so you are using Frey’s IZ expertise but expanding your horizons. I really like it. As a spread coach, power and counter trey are no less effective in lighter sets (10,11 personnel).

Disagree on M deserving to win.lost the turnover battle 3:1 (including direct points lost on the pick six and fumbling inside the osu 5). On the road, you cannot do that and feel like you deserve to win. Period.

I agree that the calls were questionable but without the "down the line" replay, that call should not be overturned.

Whip route. Perry does a bad job selling the slant on the pick six. We use this in combination with our shallow and scat concepts. When that reciever runs enough shallows or spot/snag routes, the whip has a really nice effect.

Definitely can't argue with championships. That said, denard at any moment could take it to the house. You are talking about a guy who would have had one of the best running back stat lines ever in 2010, and on top of that, threw for 2500 yards.

Having watched Hogan in several games, and also heard reactions from many stanford fans out here in the bay area, my opinion of him is very "meh". He's decently athletic, but seems to make routinely poor decisions, and I've not seen a whole lot of accuracy out of him. All in all, kind of an erratic QB.

That said, that still probably makes him the best (and at least most experienced) QB on our roster. Just don't expect that we'd be getting Russell Wilson.

Hogan could be a decent stop-gap to allow Malzone and Speight time to develop.

I am personally not high on Shane Morris or Bellomy (obviously). If Morris turns a corner, great, but i 'm definitely not expecting him to be an all-B1G qb anytime soon.

Long story short, Hogan could make sense to provide Morris a kick in the ass in the competition department.

As a head coach at the high school level, I can tell you a few things about adjustments...

(1) Your filmwork and preparation dictates how you start a game and your general gameplan. (obviously) The biggest "adjustment" that a coach(ing staff) must be able to make is to understand what the other side is doing and identify what you have in your arsenal to counter that. Sometimes, you won't have a good answer... you play with what you practice. If you have 3 plays on O and 2 coverages on D, that's what you go with. If you don't have a QB who can throw over 10 yards, no amount of begging to "GO DEEP" will magically make that happen!

(2) Each of my assistants is tasked with evaluating a specific aspect of the gameplan over the first few series, so that we can make quick, small, in-game adjustments between drives. The biggest, and easiest thing you can do is identify 1 player on the other team to pick on, and keep picking on him until he loses his shit/gets pulled. This could be a cornerback who takes plays off if he thinks a run's coming. It could be an overzealous backer or de giving up contain. This is the quickest form of adjustment: mastering which segments of your available playcalls can be used to exploit various weaknesses.

(3) Available playcalls as adjustments: There are times when you simply don't have an available answer to what you're confronted with. What you can counter with is totally dependent on how much info your team can take in and master. Also, how do you practice? It drives me crazy to hear fans bitch and moan about adjustments not being made at halftime in scenarios where there's clearly a limit to what calls are available. A team that can't pass or more importantly pass-block, won't magically start throwing the ball. Where i understand getting frustrated is when coachs refuse to do things that the players are capable of because of their own pride. You have to know your personnel, and adapt to it. If I have a dual threat QB, our passing spread turns into a read-option spread to run team.

(4) A great way to have built-in adjustments is to teach your kids concepts, send them to the line without a huddle, and coach them up to the point where your QB/linemen (in particular) can recognize the defense (or LB's/safety's on d) and make playcall adjustments at the line. My team this past year evolved into basically a passing spread team. We didn't have the big size and strength up front to be a power-based football team, but we were athletic enough to handle more zone concepts and were exceptional in pass protection (1 sack in 180 pass atempts over the last 6 games). My Qb had 11 available play concepts to call from based on what he would see at the line... it's pretty cool to see kids learn that they, being on the field, in the moment, have a better look at what plays will work against the other team. As a coach, this puts you in a situation where you can eventually trust your guys on the field to help YOU make adjustments during breaks.

anyway, just some thoughts from a coach who values teaching your kids up to the point where they are knowledgable enough and competent enough to make changes on the go.

There isn't a concept in any football playbook that Al didn't try to implement. So are you saying that Brady was forcing Al to try 8 million concepts without focusing on 1. I could see Brady beign responsible for the stubbornness that leads to 27 for 27, but as a whole I'm not sure Brady was much into offensive micromanagement.

I'm sure Shane will push Devin, but there's not a chance this is actually a competition Shane wins. You can't bench that kind of production with the whole "guy who can vince young you on 3rd and long" aspect.

Nuss has PLENTY to work with in DG, and his background suggests Devin's multiple skillsets are well within his comfort zone.

Is it weird that I would interested to see what Nick Sheridan can do as a coach? He's an pass game c/QB coach at USF. Michigan certainly won't have the balls to hire a younger guy (god forbid) though, so he's out.

No, our D will not keep us in it. Braxton Miller's brain is our only hope to keeping this respectable. If he malfunctions enough, we might be able to hang around. That said, I'm expecting Carlos Hyde to get about 30 carries, and how many yards those go for will determine the ugliness level of this game. If OSU is smart, Miller puts the ball in the air considerably less than 20 times, and most of those will probably go to blitheringly wide open tight ends.

if this team goes out and knocks off OSU next week, that says volumes about the guys on the team. I will be extremely happy for them. That win would be all for them. I'm so checked out of this season. And I'm not afraid to admit it. I fell asleep in the 4th quarter of the Iowa game. I just didn't care. I'm sure I'll watch The Game. I'm sure I'll be somewhat excited at kickoff. But I'm not even exchanging shit texts with OSU fans. They all fall into 2 categories: they are either embarassed for M or genuinely feel bad that we are as bad as we are.

That said, I'm pretty sure I felt this same way before the Florida CAP One game. There's always a chance. But it would require the kind of stylistic offensive switch DeBord pulled out of his ass for the cap one game. If Al Borges insists on trotting out the same grab bag of garbage next week, I will not be surprised if OSU drops 50+ on us.

Prediction: We come out with all manner of trickery/new installs for the first drive, get up 7-0 and then revert to our normal shit. This looks a lot like 2008 game.

Not sure if it's shock or what, but I'm not even panicked... I'm actually surprised we've survived unscathed, and I do think there's actual talent on the offensive line that simply needs time to gel.

Derrick Green needs to get his ass in shape so we have another backfield option.

Also, it's really feeling more and more like Devin's just pressing. He's getting so impatient with the lack of success that it's just throwing the offense just enough off to make it feel like a collossal disaster.

I honestly think this is a situation where we're not as bad as we've played the last 2 weeks, and we're not as good as the team that steamrolled Central and knocked off ND.

I'm starting to see that all the random plays that are getting thrown in with varying results really are smoke and mirrors trying to cover up the fact that we can not sustain a smashmouth running attack. I'm not sure this is on Borges, right now. There weren't many playcalls where I thought, what is he doing? Really, Poor execution on many fronts. Al's really trying to disguise weaknesses and distract our opponents with flashy playcalls.

I think we are going to see as Big Ten play starts that DG is going to start getting his number called in the running game closer to 15 times a game. It's the only thing that's consistently working in the run game, and will help get Toussaint a little more room.

As for the pass game. I see the latter part of that game being a result of DG adopting the same mindset as the fans in the stands. He's surely thinking, "wow, we are sucking, but surely we'll get it going and still win comfortably". Then he starts pressing and making bad decisions.

I think our pass game will be fine, and still a huge upgrade from recent seasons.

I don't want to hear any complaining from anyone who DIDN't watch the game in Berkeley at the UM bar which today was over run by Buckeye fans. The worst experience watching a game I've ever had. This whole town looks like fucking columbus right now.

Game summary:

-Practice. Did it happen last week?

-Interior line got "blowed up"

-did Trevor Siemian transfer to Akron for the 4th Q?

-I think what everyone learned watching that game is that we have not gotten to the point when we can not include the QB in our running game. It's the only way. We have to play that game to have any hope of setting up anything from the I-form. Akron had nothing for the pistol read or the inverted veer.

-to me, playcalling was pretty far from the forefront of what was wrong. there were severe execution and decision making errors.

What is the deal with all this raving about Fitz? 14 carries 57 yards? That's 4 per carry. Cool that he's back from a horrendous injury, but that's hardly something to sit there and be happy with against a MAC team. We'll see really where we're at next Saturday, but I don't get the FITZ IS BACK shit.

I do think Fitz is still the guy, given his experience and non-fumbling, but I think it's pretty clear that he's not going to get 25+ carries a game. They will, and should continue to try out Smith and Green to get those guys experience and see if one can be an immediate value-add to the ground game. By the end of October, I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the freshmen getting more carries on average than Fitz. I also won't be surprised if that doesn't happen.

I don't think I've ever been as quietly confident about a QB going into a season than with Devin Gardner this year. Frankly, what he did from a position change standpoint last season was nothing short of miraculous.

This year, there's no Denard gimmick-ry and shuttling on and off the field... There's nothing but what this offense has worked on in the off-season. Gardner brings that dreaded ability to absolutely launch the bomb while also take off if the defense falls asleep. How can you defend that?

So, in my mind, there's no doubt that Devin will be excellent. How excellent, and how many games we win wil really be decided by whether a second receiver can take some heat off Jeremy Gallon, and whether Fitz Toussaint bounces back to 2011 form/ Derrick Green comes in ready to play.

The comparison? Geno Smith. He is a classic case, though, where if noone else steps up, even a great QB can helm a 7-6 team (West VA last year).

I think Gallon's going to turn heads this fall (as will Gardner). I'm talking, 1000 yards this season. The amount that Funchess gets featured really depends on how he develops as a blocker. If he's a total liability, he loses his edge in the pass game because teams will adjust to know that it's a pass only if he's in there.

regarding the wide receivers, I'm not all that concerned. I think Dileo will be a steady producer, to the tune of 30-40 catches. Someone should be able to come in and be productive enough. I think we're in trouble if we're throwing the ball more than 60 percent of the time anyway. Play action needs to be a big element of our offense... Either Fitz comes back strong, or Green steps up early, or we're going to be in trouble.

Gallon: 75 catches, 1100 yards, 10 TDs

Funchess: 45 catches, 600 yards, 8 TDs

Dileo: 35 catches, 500 yards, 5 TDs

Darboh: 25 catches, 400 yards, 3 TDs

As for Devin Gardner, I think he has a huge year. I think he'll cost us 2 games with some bad decisions, but he will also win a good number as well.

wait, did you just compare Denard to RG3 and Russell Wilson, 2 of the most accurate passers in college football last year?

RG3 is one of the most deadly accurate throwers I've ever watched. That is why the Redskins are building a franchise around him. The fact that he can run and is a pure athlete is simply icing on the cake.

Russell Wilson clearly could throw, and his baseball skills certainly don't hurt with the accuracy. That's why he got a shot as an undersized QB.

Denard has always been an athlete that can throw JUST ENOUGH to take some heat off the run game and allow him to run wild. No offensive coordinator was going to miraculously turn him into an NFL QB. Sure, he could have been managed more effectively in a spread tailored to his talents, but that only really affects michigan over the last 2 years, not Denard in the NFL. He'll have just as good a chance to get paid in the NFL as any first rounder. It won't be as a QB, though. He'll make it elsewhere.

I think the first team to draft denard isn't going to pigeonhole him into a position. He will be drafted for his athleticism, positive character attributes and coachability. Where he goes from there is really going to be a mystery. I think he ultimately will end up doing a lot of things, from situational wildcat stuff, to slot receiver, RB, KO&PR. I could see him playing some D as well.

Think Josh Cribbs.

No (sane) team will draft him as a QB first. See: Miami Dolphins-Pat White. Also very true that Denard's passing wouldn't be at Chip Kelly's desired level, so unless he fell to the 5th or later round, don't see that match happening.

(1) If the combo of Darboh, Chesson and any freshmen can put up the production of Roundtree over the last few games, our receiving corp will be essentially unchanged with a senior Jeremy Gallon leading the way. Devin Funchess should become a 40+ catch target.

(2) Next year really will be the year that makes or breaks Al Borges. It's pretty clear that Devin posesses a skill set that Borges is more comfortable molding for his WCO. If this combination puts it together in the offseason and develops an offense with a clear identity, Devin could be vince young 2.0---- seriously. With the deep ball accuracy and ability to create outside the pocket, he puts a ton of stress on defenses. Think about this: at worst, I see Devin putting up a Terrelle Pryor statline that's somewhere between his 2009 and 2010 production:

(3) The emergence of a running game and a bruising O-Line will obviously tell us how far we will go in the B1G. I think we will be at our most vulnerable early in the season next year, and it will take a few games to get our run game going. Really, ND, Nebraska and OSU are the question mark games that will determine our season. I think we probably win the Nebraska game, and wins in the other 2 provide Gardner a chance to state his candidacy for the heisman.

Anyway, it's not a crazy thought that Devin can contend for the heisman, but there's a lot that needs to happen for him to have a legit shot.

Let's all just admit that the endpoint of all this is an NFL 7-on-7 league. Flag football. WHEE...

I already don't give a shit about NFL football. To me, Schiano's idea isn't that outlandish. I'd put it at the 35, and make the team move across midfield to keep possession. Or just make it 4th and 20 from the 30. Most people would punt/faircatch in that situation anyway. It basically turns it into the safety rules with an opportunity for a longshot at keeping the football. That's not all that bad in my book.

what didn't make sense to me was abandoning the deuce concept in the 2nd half. Were devin and denard ever on the field at the same time in the 2nd half? Without a line up to the task of blocking OSU, and without a credible back to set up the Devin Gardner token play-action, we were bound to run out of workable options. Saturday's game needed to be a high percentage of gimmick for us to win. I think the biggest play of the game was our opening possession where Devin fumbled it away in OSU territory. We put points on the board there and it's possibly 24-20 or 28-20 at half.

The third and short calls were bad - roll DG on a bootleg at least once.

Also, I kept looking for the V Smith screen... where did that go, especially as it got down to the wire...

Really, Carlos Hyde and the inside zone really did us in... other than that, I thought our guys really hung in there on Miller. I was surprised that OSU largely abandoned the pass in the 2nd half, but I guess they were correct that they had figured out how to shut us down.

I will say this: Al Borges is not even close to the biggest problem we've got. We need a bruising physical line, a reliable, sturdy workhorse back, and some bigger wide receiver targets before we can expect to dominate OSU. Lacking those things, I thought we did pretty well to stay in the game. I expect Devin Gardner to do special things next year.